There was a sad story in The New York Times recently about how some fundraisers—including many politicians—trick people (particularly senior citizens) into donating more than they want to. The story profiled Steve Vaughn, who started to go through his fathers bank statement after he died and was shocked to see 400 donations totaling more than $11K over just a four month period. There were donations to Donald J. Trump, Mitch McConnell, Tim Scott, Steve Scalise and many others. There were notes with the bank statements showing the 90-year old had repeatedly try to dispute the charges with his credit card company—all to no avail. Here is how the scam works. Fundraisers will call you and ask you for a donation and once you agree, they will enter them into the system as a recurring payment. Instead of taking a fixed amount, say $100, out of your account, they will take out $100 every month or sometimes every week. They are hoping people aren’t diligent about going over their bank statements, so pay attention! Many of them are targeting high-income areas of Monterey County like Carmel, Pacific Grove & Pebble Beach.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/politics/recurring-donations-seniors.html
